Loose leaf binder



Jan.4, 1938. A. w. MCCLURE 2,104,568

LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed May 25, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l l I 0 a /4 f0 //1 YEN rare WITIYE6$ Jan. 4, 1938. A. w. M CLURE LOOSE LEAF BINDER Filed May 25, 1955 2 SheetsSheet 2 In YEN T07? MWM 14 7'TORIYE Ys Patented Jan. 4, 1938 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOOSE LEAF BINDER Application May 25, 1933, Serial No. 672,844

6 Claims.

This invention relates to loose leaf binders and the like in which leaf-impaling posts are re movably secured at both ends to respective sides of the back member. a

The main object of this invention is to provide a loose leaf binder of the above-mentioned class, with means for automatically securing the leafimpaling members in the binder during the closing of said binder.

One of the specific objects of this invention is to provide a binder of the above-mentioned class with post-retaining mechanism which may be automatically brought into holding engagement with the leaf-impaling posts by the closing of a cover.

Another object of the invention is to provide a loose leaf binder having removable leaf-impaling posts with post-retaining means at opposite sides of the binder which may be quickly and easily manipulated to simultaneously release the corresponding ends of the posts.

A further object is to provide means for automatically aligning the posts with the post-retaining mechanism during the closing of the binder.

Another object is to provide a loose leaf binder of the above-mentioned class which is economical and durable in construction and which is simple and positive in operation.

Other objects and advantages pertaining to the structure of the device and to the form and relation of the parts thereof, will more fully appear from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a loose leaf binder embodying the various features of this invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken substantially on line 2-2', Figure 1, in the plane of one of the leaf-impaling posts.

Figures 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views similar to that shown in Figure 2 and taken respectively on lines 33 and 44 of Figure 6.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional View with the central portion of the binder broken away and taken in the plane of the line 5- -5, Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view taken on line 6-6, Figure 2, illustrating the latch slide in elevation.

Figure 7 is a View similar to Figure 6 taken on line 1-1, Figure 4, illustrating the latch bar in elevation.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the latch bar.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of one of the leaf-impaling posts with the central portion of the post broken away.

As illustrated in the drawings, the device comprises primarily a back member I, two covers 2 and 3 and a pair of impaling post-retaining members 4 and 5. The back member I may be constructed in any well-known manner and, in this instance, is made concavo-convex in cross-section, with a hinge member 8 permanently secured by rivets or other suitable means to the concave or inner side of the back member I. i The hinge member 8, as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, is concavo-convex in cross section and has each longitudinal edge thereof extended a short distance beyond the corresponding edge of the backmember I and formed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced hinge eyelets 9, as clearly illustrated in Figure '2.

The covers 2 and 3 are constructed preferably from cardboard or similar material in the conventional manner and, in this instance, each cover has a hinge member I0 positioned therein intermediate the inner and outer surface at the inner longitudinal edge thereof. These hinge members II! may be secured to the corresponding cover by rivets as I I or other suitable means, and are secured in coacting relationwith the hinge member 8 at respective sides thereof by means of pintle rods I2, as illustrated in Figure 3.

The post-retaining members 4 and 5 are arranged one adjacent each longitudinal side of the back member and are adapted, when the covers are in the closed position, to lie just inside of the inner hinged edge of a respective cover. These retaining members are substantially identical in construction so that a description of one will answer for a comprehensive understanding of them both.

Each of the retaining members consists of a tubular housing I3 formed, in this instance, of a channel body member I4 and a cover I5 which is secured over the open side of the body member by a plurality of, in this instance four, longitudinally spaced screws I6, three of which are screw-threaded in a respective sleeve I'I secured by spot-welding or equivalent means to the body I 4, while the fourth screw is screw-threaded in a guide plate I8 permanently secured by electric welding or other suitable means to one end of the body Id. The housing is hingedly connected with the back member I, and for this purpose, one of the housing members, as the cover I5, is extended at one longitudinal side beyond the body I4 and provided with spaced hinge eyelets I9 adapted to align with the eyelets 9 on the hinge plate 8 and receive therethrough the pintle rod l2, as clearly illustrated in Figure 4.

The body M has portions of its bottom wall near the inner edge thereof cut away to form aligned longitudinally spaced openings adapted to receive therethrough an end of a respective post 2|.

The posts 2|, in this instance, are rectangular in cross-section and have a pair of transverse slots 22 provided in one side thereof. These slots are arranged one adjacent either end of the post in such a. manner that when the post is in the leaf-holding position within the binder with the end of the post extending through the respective opening in the housing, said slot will be positioned in the inner chamber 24 of the housing in alignment with a latch bar 25 mounted in the housing chamber between the guide plate I8 and a similar plate 26 permanently secured in the housing at the opposite end of the chamber, as illustrated in Figure 7.

The latch bar 25 is of less width than the chamber 24 so as to have a lateral movement in the housing. One longitudinal edge of the latch bar 25 which may be termed the forward edge thereof, is provided with a plurality of, in this instance five, longitudinally spaced slots 28, one slot being provided for each post. Each of these slots 28 is of sufficient length to freely receive an end of a respective post therein, while the depths of the slots are such that when the bar is in its foremost position, the inner walls 28' of each of the slots will extend into a slot 22 of a respective post 2| and thereby secure theends of the posts to the housing. These inner walls 28 of each latch bar slot are preferably beveled from the inner face thereof inwardly toward the rear edge of the bar, as illustrated more clearly in Figure 2, topermit the ready entrance of the ends of the posts into the housing, while the ends of the posts may be, as shown in Figures 2 and 9, rounded to assist this action.

The latch bar 25 is yieldingly urged forwardly toward. the post openings 20 by a pair of compression springs 30 mounted in the housing and positioned one near either end of the bar in respective inwardly extending slots 3! provided in the rear edge of the bar, said springs being mounted between the inner wall of said slots and the rear wall of the chamber 24. In order that the latch bar 25 may be moved rearwardly against the action of the springs 30 to release the ends of the posts 2|, I have provided a latch slide 33 which is slidably mounted in the housing chamber 24 at one side of the latch bar 25.

The latch slide extends outwardly beyond one end of the housing over the guide plate 26 and is provided with a suitable laterally extending portion or handle 34 made integral therewith for providing a convenient means whereby the slide may be manually moved outwardly against the action of a compression spring 35 which is mounted in a longitudinally extending slot 35 provided in the latch slide 33 intermediate its ends adjacent one of the housing spacing sleeves l1, said spring having one end thereof engaging one end of the slot 36 and the other end thereof engaging said spacing sleeve IT,

The forward edge of the latch slide 33 is provided with inwardly extending slots 31 adapted to receive therein an end of a respective post 2|, While the length of these slots is sufficient to permit the necessary longitudinal movement of the slide without the ends of the slots coming in contact with the posts.

The slide is also provided with longitudinally extending slots 38 each conveniently arranged for receiving therethrough a corresponding spacing sleeve l1.

Any suitable coacting means may be provided on the latch bar 25 and latch slide 33 whereby the longitudinal movement of the latch slide will produce a lateral movement of the latch bar 25 to move said latch bar into and out of holding engagement with the post 2!, and for this purpose, I have provided the latch bar 25 with a pair of longitudinally spaced outwardly extending pins 40 adapted to extend into a corresponding cam slot 4! provided in the latch slide 33. These cam slots il are, in this instance, substantially L-shape in plan view having one leg 4| thereof extending from the respective pin 46 when the slide is in its normal innermost position toward the end of the slide opposite the handle 34, at an acute angle to the forward edge of the slide, while the other leg as 4!" extends rearwardly from the respective pin 40 at substantially right angles to the forward edge of the slide. The portions 4!" of the cam slots are for receiving thepins it! during the lateral movement of the latch bar produced by the posts when entering the chamber, While the portions 4! are so arranged that when the slide is moved outwardly, the pins 16 will engage the forward side wall of the leg 4! of the respective slot 4! and be moved rearwardly which, in turn, will produce a rearward movement of the latch bar 25 for bringing the inner wall 28' of the slots 28 out of holding engagement with the respective post 2|, and when the latch slide 33 is again moved inwardly, the pins 40 will return the latch bar 25 to its normal forward position.

It will now be observed that when the latch bar and latch slideare in their normal position, the ends of the posts '2! may readily enter the housing chamber 24 through the openings 28 and in so doing, the endsof the posts will engage the inner wall 28 of the respective slots 28 and move the latch bar 25 rearwardly until the post slots 22 register with the bar 25 when said bar will be moved forwardly into holding engagement with the posts by the action of the springs 30.

It may also be understood that when the binder is in the closed position with the ends of the posts 2! secured in a respective post-retaining member 4 or 5 for holding the leaves in the binder, either end of the-posts may be readily released to permit additional leaves to be mounted on the posts or to permit leaves already on the posts to be removed therefrom by opening the cover, as 2, adjacent the side of the binder it is desired to make a change and then release the corresponding ends of the posts by moving the latch slide 33 contained in the housing outwardly relatively to the housing until the pins 49 engage the inner ends of the cam slots 4| when the latch bar 25 will have been moved rearwardly out of holding engagement with the posts after which said ends of the posts may be entirely freed by swinging the corresponding housing upwardly about the respective hinge pintle l2 away from the posts.

It is obvious that after the latch slide 33 has been manually moved outwardly to effect the re lease of the adjacent ends of the posts, the slide will automatically be returned to the normal inner position by the action of the corresponding spring 35 and that the latch bar 25 will thereby be moved to its normal forward position in contact with the wall of the chamber 24 adjacent the openings 29 in which latter position the latch bar 25 will then be yieldingly maintained by the springs 38 ready to again engage the ends of the posts.

After one end of the posts has been released in the manner just described, these free ends may be automatically secured in the binder by merely swinging the corresponding cover to the closed position. This result is effected by the engagement of the cover with the housing of the adjacent retaining member during the closing movement of the cover which causes the housing to swing with the cover about the axis of the respective hinge pintle [2 over the free ends of the posts, and as the cover approaches its normal closed position, the housing will be pressed sufficiently thereby to cause the ends of the posts as they pass inwardly through the respective housing openings 20 to force the latch bar 25 rearwardly against the action of the springs 39 until the latch bar is released by the registration of the respective post slots 22 with the latch bar when the springs 3i) will force the bar forwardly until the inner walls 28 of the slots 28 enter respective post slots 22 and thereby secure the ends of the posts in the housing.

It is obvious that when one of the retaining members t or 5 is actuated to release the corresponding end of the posts in the manner above described, the back member I will swing outwardly about the pintle rod l2 at the opposite side of the binder away from the posts and leaves mounted thereon. These leaves, as 45, are mounted on the posts 2| in the conventional manner, and for this purpose, they are provided with the customary openings 46 arranged in longitudinal spaced relation along one edge for receiving the posts therethrough.

It will now be apparent that when only one end of the posts is connected with the back member through the medium of a retaining member 4 or 5, the posts are maintained in their upright position by the leaves 45, and due to the ease in which the leaves may move relative to each other and assume an askew position, the free ends of the posts very often become moved out of alignment so that when the detached retaining member is brought over the posts, the free ends thereof are not properly aligned with the openings 20 in the housing and therefore it is desirous that some means be provided for again bringing the free ends of the posts into position to readily enter the housing openings as the binder is being closed. For this purpose, I have provided the back member I with an aligning means which, in this instance, consists of an abutting plate 43 secured to the inner concave side of the hinge member 8 in spaced relation thereto by three shouldered studs 49. This plate is rectangular in plan view and extends longitudinally of the back member between the retaining housings it in such relation to said housings that when the binder is closed, the inner edges of the leaves mounted on the posts will terminate in close proximity to or abut against the abutting plate id. Furthermore, the plate is provided with T-ends or heads. One arm of each head extends toward the back member to form end closures St for the space between the abutting plate 48 and the hinge plate 8.

The contour of the outer side of each of the closures 5&3 conforms to the contour of the adjacent portion of the back member and is adapted to engage therewith. The other arm of each of the ends of the abutting plate extends away from the back member at substantially right angles to said plate and these arms are spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the leaves 35 to form guide members 5| adapted to engage the sides of the leaves adjacent the inner edges thereof so as to bring the leaves into predetermined relation to the back member when the leaves enter therebetween.

It may now be clearly understood that when the binder is in the open position with one end of the posts released, the sides of the leaves will first be engaged by the guide members 51 which have the outer free sides thereof bent outwardly as at 5 l to readily engage said leaves as the back member is swung forwardly about the aXis of the pintle rod H2 at the attached side of the binder toward the leaves thereby bringing the sides of the leaves into alignment with each other, and as the back approaches the normal upright position, the rear edges of the leaves will be engaged by the abutting plate 48 and be aligned thereby, with the result that as the leaves are thus brought into symmetrical relation one with another, the posts will be moved thereby into such a position that the free ends thereof will be in alignment with the openings 28 in the housing when said housing is swung over the posts.

Although the detached housing may be, as hereinbefore explained, swung into holding engagement with the free ends of the posts by the action of the cover thereon as said cover is moved to the closed position, it is obvious that the housing may also be manually moved into holding engagement independently of the cover, and although I have shown and particularly described the preferred embodiment of this invention, I do not wish to be limited to the exact construction shown, as various changes both in the form, size and relation of the parts thereof may readily be made without departing from the spirit of this invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a loose leaf binder, a latch bar, holding means including a spring for yieldingly maintaining said bar in the latching position, a latch slide mounted adjacent said bar, and coacting means associated with the bar and slide comprising a pin and cam slot adapted to cause said bar to be moved out of the latching position against the action of the spring by the movement of the slide.

2. In a loose leaf binder comprising a back member, upper and lower covers hinged to the back member, a plurality of impaling posts adapted to retain a quantity of paper, said impaling posts being normally secured to the back poemher at both ends, means for releasing one end of each of the impaling posts from the back member whereby one cover and the back member may be thrown back to enable insertion and removal of sheets of paper, means carried by the back member and engageable with the side edges of the paper for alining the posts as the cover and back are brought toward closing position, and means for automatically engaging the posts to the back member when the cover is closed.

3. In a loose leaf binder comprising a back member, upper and lower covers hinged to the back member, a plurality of impaling posts adapted to retain a quantity of paper, said impaling posts being normally secured to the back member at both ends, means for releasing one end of each 'of the impaling posts from the back member whereby one cover and the back member may be thrown back to enable insertion and removal of sheets of paper, means engageable with the back and the side edges of the sheets of paper for alining the posts as the cover and back are brought toward closing position, and means for automatically engaging the posts to the back member when the cover is closed.

4. In a loose leaf binder comprising a back member, upper and lower covers hinged to the back member, a plurality of impaling posts adap ed to retain a quantity of paper, said impaling posts being normally secured to the back mem ber at both ends, means for releasing one end of each of the impaling posts from the back member whereby one cover and the back member may be thrown back to enable insertion and removal of sheets of paper, means movable with the back member adapted to engage the back and side edges of the paper as the cover and back are brought toward closing position, and means for automatically engaging the posts to the back member when the cover is closed.

5. In a loose leaf binder, a binder covering comprising a back member, a pair of hinges secured along the longitudinal edges of the back member and a pair of covers secured to said hinges, a

ends of the posts, said manually operable means being operable when the binder is closed, spring means normally urging said latch means into engagement with said other ends of the posts, and means for applying the weight of the cover on said latch means automatically to reengage said latch means with said other ends of the posts during the closing of one cover.

6. In a loose leaf binder, a binder covering comprising a back member, a pair of hinges secured along the longitudinal edges of the back member and a pair of covers secured to said hinges, a plurality of impaling posts normally secured to the binder covering at the same ends of the posts, a housing having openings therein for the reception of the posts, said housing being hinged to the back member along the longitudinal edge thereof, releasable latch means in said housing for securing said binder covering to the other ends of the posts, spring means normally urging said latch means transversely of the housing into engagement with said other ends of the posts, manually operable means in said housing operable when the binder is closed, means connecting said manually operable means with said latch means whereby the manually operable means may be moved longitudinally of the binder to release said latch means from said other ends of the posts, said housing and the corresponding cover being hinged with relation to the back member in a manner such that the weight of the cover may be applied on said housing during the reassembly of the binder automatically to re-engage said latch means with said other ends of the posts during the closing of one cover.

ARTHUR W. McCLURE. 

